Ring binder



June 8, 1943. c. D. TRUSSELL 2,321,560

RING BINDER Filed Dec. 2, 1942 INVENTOR Patented June 8, 1943 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RING BINDER Clarence D. Trussell, Poughkeepsia N. Y., assignor to Trussell Manufacturing Company, Foughkeepsie, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 2, 1942, Serial No. 467,641

4 Claims. (01. 129-1) 'The invention here disclosed relates to ring binders and is a continuation in part of invention disclosed in copending patent application Ser. No. 452,111 filed July 23, 1942.

Special objects of the present invention are to provide a construction utilizin non-metallic materials, such as wood for the back and flexible plastic for the rings and in which the rings will be firmly and securely held, without cracking, breaking or'injuring the same.

Other, related objects are to provide a form of readily releasable connection between the backs and rings which will afford a maximum holding effect without weakening either such parts and to provide a ring which can be quickly and inexpensively produced, with simple tools, and which will have desirable spring characteristics tending to hold it in place in the back on the one hand and causing it to open up for easy placing of the leaves, when released at One end from the back.

The foregoing and other desirable objects are attained by the novel features of construction, combinations and relations of parts hereinafter set forth, illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing and covered in the claims.

Fig. 1 in the drawing is a side view of one of he preformed plastic rings.

' 'Fig. 2 is a broken plan of the Wooden binder back with which these rings are used.

Fig. 3 is an end view showing the ring as connected and mounted on the back.

Fig. 4 is a similar view partly in section showing how the rings open up when released at one end from the back.

Fig. 5 is a further enlarged broken sectional view on substantially the plane of line 55 of Fig. 4.

The ring elements It], in the present illustration, are made of short lengths of flexible plastic rod substantially elliptical in cross-section and are preformed to the flat arch shape shown in Fig. 1', having a substantially flat top portion H, and nearly parallel or slightly obtusely angled ends or stem portions l 2, connected with the flat intermediate portions by bends I3, of a curvature approximating that to be attained by the fully mounted ring.

The sides'of the stem portions are impressed with grooves l4, inclined convergently downwardly and inwardly of the arch.

These grooves are pressed into the opposite sides of the ring element, while the latter is heated sufficiently to permit flow of the material. This pressure applied from the opposite sides squeezes and widens out the material, thus increasing the length of the grooves and the intermediate webs l5, appreciably beyond that of the original cross-section of the rod material.

The dies which impress these grooves and elongate the intermediate webs of material are rounded at the edges which contact the material so as to' produce as shown in Fig. 5, rounded shoulders It.

The importance of using rounded edges to mold the plastic and thus in the end producing the rounded shoulders such as shown is that this avoidsany cutting, scratching or tearing the surface of the plastic, thus avoiding any lines of surface weakness, such as frequently cause this plastic to crack and break under strain.

The wooden back IT, is shown as of generally triangular cross-section, having flat convergently.

inclined upper faces I8, in which are formed the undercut keyhole type slots l9, to receive the grooved stem portions of therings.

'A'special feature of these keyhole slots is that the narrower outer end portions of the same have rounded edges 20, substantially to match the rounded shoulder portions l6, of the rings. This assures easier movement of the grooved stems into and out of the narrow, holding portions of the slots, provides greater surface engagement and leaves no sharp edges to cut into or injure the rings, even though the latter be twisted and bent in various directions.

The firmness with which these parts cooperate is illustrated in Fig. 4, which shows how a ring held at one end only will be retained in that relation, thus to facilitate easy removal. or placing of sheets. When thus released at one end, the ring springs open to its preformed flat arch shape, a condition further facilitating engagement or removal of the sheets or leaves.

The displacing and spreading of the material without breaking or weakening the surface by flowing the material only in smoothly rounded shoulders may to some extent, actually strengthen the rings at their points of attachment, instead of weakening them as heretofore, where the formation of the grooves by cutting, weakened the rings, directly by the removal of materialand indirectly by cutting through the surface film and thus establishing incipient lines of cleavage. The elongated web portions l5, provide wide bearings for the rings along the opposite edges of the securing slots and desirable frictional engagement for retaining the rings in fully g ri partly open positions such as illustrated in If the ring material is thermoplastic, the stem portions may be readily grooved by properly shaped jaws or forming dies operating in a shallow tank containing a heating liquid in which the shank portions of the previously arched rings may be clipped.

By making the grooves in the opposite sides of the ring only as wide or slightly wider than the thickness of the ledges forming the opposite sides of the undercut slots, as indicated in Fig. 4, the stem portions will be held substantially against tilting movement in the plane of the rings and with a proper angle or inward inclination of these slots, the stems will be maintained in an outwardly inclined relation on the back, thus to positively produce the ring opening effect illustrated in this view. In other words, the end of the ring which is left rooted in the back piece is held so firmly in outwardly angled relation that it serves the effect of an anchored post or pillar, on which the ring will spring open substantially to its original preformed flat arched shape.- The closely conforming extended engagement between the ring ends and their seats in the back assures the continuance of this firm upstanding relation. The movement of the ring ends inward toward the open ends of the seats necessary to release them, tensions the intermediateportions of the rings still further, increasing the tendency of the intermediate portions to spring open to the full extent when so released. a

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a binder back, comprising a strip of wood substantially triangular in crosssection having convergently inclined substantially fiat upper faces with transversely extending keyhole slots therein and the smaller end portions of said keyhole slots being undercut in inclined pockets extending from the larger ends of said slots beneath said smaller ends and providing inclined ledges outlining said smaller portions of the slots and the edges about said inclined ledges being rounded, and binder rings of springy plastic rod preformed in flat arch shape each with an intermediate substantially straight portion and substantially straight stem portions connected with opposite ends ofthe substantially straight intermediate portion by'rounded bends, the ends of said stem portions being of a size to enter the larger ends of the keyhole slots and to pass beneath said ledges and said stem portions being grooved in opposite sides with rounded surfaces substantially to match and to firmly grip the rounded edges of said ledges.

2. A ring binder, comprising a back having oppositely disposed transversely extending slots therein, undercut to form opposed confining ledges and enlarged at the inner ends to provide access to the space beneath said ledges and binder rings of stiff springy material preformed each in a substantially straight intermediate portion and stem portions connected with opposite ends of'said substantially straight intermediate portion by curved portions, the ends of said stem portions being of a size to enter the larger ends of said slots and to pass beneath said ledges and said stem portions having grooves in opposite sides of the same of a width and depth to closely fit the opposing edge portions of the opposed confining ledges, said grooves extending at an angle across said stem portions to hold said stem portions in outwardly divergent upstanding relation on the back with the substantially straight intermediate portion bowed upwardly in a curvature coextensive with the preformed curved portions joining said stem portions thereto when said stem portions are both engaged with the confining ledges and whereby said intermediate portion will tend to straighten out when the stem portion at either end is released from the back and to lift the released stem portion clear of the back while the other stem portion remains connectedwith the back, firmly supporting the ring at that one end in said opened relation.

3. A ring binder, comprising a back having oppositely disposed transversely extending slots therein, undercut to form opposed confining ledges and enlarged at the inner ends to provide access to the space beneath said ledges and binder rings of stiff springy material preformed each in a substantially straight intermediate portion and stem portions connected with opposite ends of said substantially straight intermediate portion by curved portions, the ends of said stem portions being of a size to enter the larger ends of said slots and to pass beneath said ledges and said stem portions having grooves in opposite sides of the same of a, width and depthto closely fit the opposing edge portions of the opposed confining ledges, said grooves extending at an angle across said stem portions to hold said stem portions in outwardly divergent upstanding relation on the back with the substantially straight intermediate portion bowed. upwardly in a curvature coextensive with the preformed curved portions joining said stem portions thereto when said stem portions are both engaged with the confining ledges and whereby said intermediate portion will tend to straighten out when the stem portion at either end is released from the back and to lift the released stem portion clear of the back while the other stem portion remains connected with the back, firmly supporting the ring at that one end in said opened relation and webs at the bottoms of said grooves, elongated transversely beyond the normal transverse dimensions of the rings and engaging the opposingledges for holdingthe rings transversely aligned with the slots-when thus released at one end. I

4. A binder, comprising rings of stiff springy material, each preformed with curved'end portions and a substantially straight intermediate portion which will arch to match the curvature of said preformed end portions when said end portions are brought toward each other, and a back having seats for said end portions, said seats being transversely spaced to tension the substantially straight intermediate portions of said rings in said arched shape, said end portions and seats closely conforming and having extended close fitting engagement for holding said end portions individually in firm upstanding relation on said back and said seats opening inwardly of' the back to enable disengagement of either endportion by inward fiexure of the same without freeing the other end portion from firmly seated upstanding engagement on the back and the end portion thus left engaged with the back then firmly supporting the ring at that one end, enabling the tensioned intermediate portion in tending to return to the preformed substantially straight condition to lift the released end portion clear of the blackt to facilitate easy placing and removal of s ee s. r

' CLARENCE D; :TRUSjSELL; 

